Jane Got A Gun might have a happy ending
Friday, September 18, 2015 at 9:02AM Here's Murtada telling the tale of Jane.
Say you are Natalie Portman. You just won an Oscar then took some time off to raise your young family. You are ready to come back to work. You decide to take charge of your career and produce a movie. You find a hot script by a young talented writer. It’s a revisionist western, a genre you haven’t tried before. You choose to work with an acclaimed female director because you want to tell more stories about women and employ more women. To co-star you choose one of the most respected actors of your generation. Great intentions all around. Then everything falls apart just as filming is supposed to start.
That’s the saga of Jane Got a Gun. On the first day of shooting director Lynne Ramsay left. Despite a now settled lawsuit no one knows why but differences with producers and financiers are suspected. The leading man, Michael Fassbender, leaves too as Ramsay was the main reason he signed on. He’s replaced by Bradley Cooper. Then Jude Law. Then Joel Edgerton who was supposed to play the “baddie” is promoted to the lead. Ewan McGregor is hired for Edgerton’s part. Producers scramble to find a director while the cast and crew are waiting on set in New Mexico. Finally Gavin O’Connor (Warriors) is hired. He brings with him his writer (Anthony Tambakis ) and they do a major re-write alienating the original writer (Brian Duffield). Somehow everyone gets to work, the movie is shot while PR experts are in damage control mode.
Months later the movie is set for release for February 2015. Then it’s delayed to September 2015. And a month before release the studio behind Jane goes bankrupt. The film is one of many caught in the crosshairs of Relativity’s recent Chapter 11 filing. Others include the Nicholas Hoult- Felicity Jones starrer Collide and Jim Sheridan’s The Secret Scripture with Rooney Mara and Vanessa Redgrave.
But it looks like there’s a happy ending for Jane after all. The Weinstein Company has picked it up for distribution and will release in Europe this November and in the US next February.
And it’s also nice to see Natalie Portman continue creating opportunities for women behind the camera. She directed her first movie A Tale of Love and Darkness based on Amos Oz's autobiographical book. The movie played Cannes and Toronto to mixed reviews. One of her upcoming projects is On the Basis of Sex, a biography of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to be directed by Marielle Heller (Diary of a Teenage Girl).
Are you glad to finally see Jane get a break?
Reader Comments (14)
What! Natalie Portman as the Notorious RBG, directed by the woman behind Diary of a Teenage Girl!?!
This could be amazing.
For some reason this reminds me of "Serena." In that it could be good but probably won't be due to all its problems, could be hilariously awful but probably won't be due to the relative talent and dedication of those involved, and will probably end up somewhere in the middle - mediocre and quickly forgotten.
Honey, you don't want to talk about development issues.
I'm hoping this is good, but the western genre is not a good way to return to the screen. It's a tough one to get right, or at least watchable, and the preproduction notes don't bode well. But I like Natalie, and I hope it all comes out in the wash...er warsh, since it's a western.
Points for trying to do the right thing to Natalie Portman, and I hope she gets some kind of break with this film. Let's hope it came together and is watchable enough to earn some money.
Of the 4 possible male leads, Joel Edgerton is my favorite actor. And I think he's the best acting match for Natalie Portman, with a stronger connection and more subtleties. And having Ewan McGregor in a cast always makes a movie more appealing to me. (Maybe an Iago like villain?)
Gavin O'Connor has directed Edgerton before. As a director, I liked his "Pride and Glory". He seems to be good at male ensembles. I wonder if Portman as an actress will end up getting short changed in this (although O'Connor did do Tumbleweeds).
I think this movie will actually turn out well. Having strong male leads often gets better reviews and better box office.
Nope. She's still insufferable, both as an actress and as a human being
I'm curious to see it, certainly but I'm a little suspicious. It's just so rare that a production marred with this many publicized issue turns out to be good.
I like this title better: See Jane Kill
LOL @ FLORA PLUM
I was considered for it but turned it down.
Flora Plum... so funny!
Flora honey hang in there, any day now. Keep the faith.
Portman can be inconsistent but when she is on she is ON.
The Professional, Garden State, Closer & Black Swan --> All amazing performances that are all so different. Few actresses her age have four performances as terrific.